Cyber activists linked to Anonymous have conceded that international law enforcement officials managed to infiltrate the collective in an operation which culminated with the arrest of 25 individuals.
”This wave of arrests was not the product of intelligence or technical wizardry on the part of Interpol, like they want you to believe,” Anonymous Iberoamerica explained in an online communique.
“They were done using a much more deplorable technique: the use of spies and informants within the collective.”
The activists also claimed many of the detainees had been careless, failing to properly erase their digital footprints.
Meanwhile, Chile’s chief prosecutor, Marlis Pfeiffer, told The Associated Press investigators were currently examining computers and phones seized during the raid for details of Anonymous activity – but were being slowed down by various encryption locks.
Bernd Rossbach, Interpol’s executive director of police services, also weighed in on “Operation Unmask,” saying the raid “shows that crime in the virtual world does have real consequences for those involved, and that the Internet cannot be seen as a safe haven for criminal activity, no matter where it originates or where it is targeted.”
For their part, Anonymous sympathizers launched a sustained distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack against Interpol’s website, knocking the page offline for several hours on Tuesday.
The cycle of arrest and digital retaliation is unlikely to end anytime soon, as hackers associated with Anonymous and AntiSec have demonstrated their determination – despite the threat of arrest – to target law enforcement entities and corporations around the world.
Previous attacks include those launched against the CIA, FTC, ManTech, IRC Federal, Booz Allen Hamilton, dozens of US city police departments, as well as government and corporate websites in Greece and South/Cental America.
